10 Video Game Genre Flips That Blew Our MIND
5. Doki Doki Literature Club
For those poor unsuspecting dating sim fanatics who picked up a copy of Doki Doki Literature Club expecting a straightforward couple of hours filled with cute anime girls chatting about cosplay outfits, getting good grades, and deciding which dreamy boy to grab sushi with on the weekend… oh boy, were you in for something.
At first, that is the premise: your unnamed protagonist bonds with adorable school chums like Sayori and Natsuki, contemplating a bright, technicolored future where the most stressful thing you do is write poetry in a scenic classroom. Then comes a brutal, disturbing plot twist: a major death that knocks the wind out of the majority of the audience.
From that point, the game transforms into a psychological horror opus with some of the best fourth-wall breaking since Eternal Darkness. Save file corruptions, distorted music, glitched dialogue, and more come crashing in as you try to navigate a suddenly hostile and ominous world.
Most will be hard-pressed to find another title like it. The reason it’s so memorable - and works so well - is precisely because of that genre swerve, veering the gamer straight off the road and plunging deep down into the black abyss below.